This invention relates generally to a printing apparatus and, more particularly, to an improvement in a thermal transfer printing apparatus wherein monochromatic or multi-color printing can be easily performed.
A conventional printing apparatus of this type uses a monochromatic transfer material (ribbon) with a single color agent (ink) to perform printing. However, the variety of applications is limited when such a single color agent is used. In order to overcome this inconvenience, a plurality of ribbons having different color agents may be used to perform multi-color printing. However, a complicated control mechanism for switching the feed control of the ribbons in accordance with the kind of ribbon and feed control of a transfer medium (paper) is then needed. These control operations cannot be properly performed in accordance with conventional techniques.